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Post by Blaine on Mar 28, 2020 12:31:38 GMT -7
My friendly postal person has delivered my next project. It's a RCA 7-EY-1JF 45 rpm record player. This player was made from 1954 to 1955 and uses the RP-190 turntable found in most RCA record players of the time. This unit also uses an amplifier RCA called the 'one tube wonder' because only vacuum tube was needed to make work. Most people who have to repair these amps/players often refer to them as the one tube blunder because to make them work, they use parts that have been out of production for many years and can be hard to source. Many restorers will add a second socket, wiring and amplification tube to these amps so they can be used with more modern replacement components or completely remove and replace the amplifier. I'm not sure what I will be doing with this unit yet, I haven't had time to look at it yet. Cosmetically, it looks great ! The tonearm is a little yellowed from time, but a little retrobrighting should look after that. Here's a look.    I'll update as things progress. |
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Post by kahuna on Apr 1, 2020 9:12:00 GMT -7
Cool  best of luck with the new project! |
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Post by Blaine on Apr 8, 2020 18:51:39 GMT -7
Since mother nature has chosen to hold up my other projects, I've decided to start on this one. It looks like this should be an easy rebuild, so it shouldn't take long to do. Many of these old turntables didn't have any connectors that can be separated so everything inside the turntable has to come out together or you have to cut the wiring. I'm not a big fan of cutting wiring, if I can work around it. Everything out !  The Body  Some cracking on the body.  |
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Post by Blaine on Apr 8, 2020 18:59:40 GMT -7
The rubber turntable mounts are hard and crumbling, not surprising, they're 65ish years old.  The motor mounts have been replaced at some point in history, those are the wrong colour. They're hard as well.  The rubber mounts all need to be in good condition to help keep vibrations from the motor to a minimum. Any shaking/vibrating will be heard while playing records. My weapon against the cracking.  |
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Post by Blaine on Apr 8, 2020 19:06:38 GMT -7
A little epoxy on those cracks and the body can get set off to the side until tomorrow.  Now lets get that motor out and look at the rubber idler wheel.  As I suspected, the idler is hard as a rock and a nice dent where it sat against the driveshaft of the motor for a decade or two. That will make a nice thump thump thump noise as the runs.  |
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Post by Blaine on Apr 8, 2020 19:19:45 GMT -7
Someone rewired the tonearm and apparently left lots of wire behind. I'll clean that up.  A spin on the drill with a little 800 grit sandpaper and that looks a little smoother. You want to sand these just enough to get the outer crust of the rubber off, if you remove to much material the speed of the turntable will change and make your records sound funny,  Now lets do a quick soak with a little acetone and hopefully the rubber on that idler wheel will soften up a little.  |
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Post by Blaine on Apr 8, 2020 19:35:47 GMT -7
Next to take off the slider mechanism and get a look at the cycling cam, it too is hard as a rock. a little plasti-dip around the rubber will make it grip once again. this doesn't need to be smooth like the idler wheel, just soft enough to grip the mechanism.  Looks like the last person to service this machine did not like lubrication, there's none anywhere.  A little cleaning and a little lube and the record dropping mechanism is working smooth.  |
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Post by Blaine on Apr 8, 2020 19:44:05 GMT -7
Finally, to get the tonearm stripped out for some retrobrighting.  That's enough for tonight. |
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Post by kahuna on Apr 22, 2020 13:15:42 GMT -7
Wow! looking forward to see what's next  |
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Post by KnightFire on Apr 23, 2020 18:56:58 GMT -7
What are your chemicals of choice for retrobrighting?
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Post by Blaine on May 3, 2020 19:48:30 GMT -7
My apologies for my tardiness in updating this thread. You might think with the world at a stop, I should have lots of time for my little projects, but you would be wrong. work has been extremely busy this spring. Here is the progress so far. The tonearm needed more than just retrobrighting, a lot of that discoloring is from cigarette smoke. A spray with oven cleaner ( low fume kind ) and a brush helped alot.  Next, a tall glass of 3% peroxide and a bit of plastic wrap to slow evaporation. then warm it up to about 150 - 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Then just time, this method works, but it does take several hours.   |
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Post by Blaine on May 3, 2020 20:08:43 GMT -7
After a scrub and a few hours in the peroxide it's looking pretty good. I doubt I'll get an exact match but that's ok.   The first few parts have arrived. If you ever decide to repair/rebuild vintage turntables, www.thevoiceofmusic.com/ is the place to go for bits and pieces.  |
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Post by Blaine on May 3, 2020 20:16:22 GMT -7
A little more attention to the case, a good wash, a polish and touch up on the RCA Victor gold lettering.   And some fresh tonearm wires.  After re-assembling, although it works, that single tube amp and high output cartridge sound terrible, and it sounds like the needle is digging into my records. So I have ordered a few more goodies to see if we can improve things a bit. Once the parts I've ordered arrive, we'll continue this journey. |
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best of luck with the new project!
